cape of home-made pattern, and a big black straw hat which had evidently
done duty throughout the summer; all were neatly brushed and clean, but
well-worn and lusterless, and they heightened the appearance of deadly
pallor which, struck Max so much.

Her eyes he could not see; her scarlet lips were tightly closed, and her
face seemed to him to wear an air of dogged determination which helped
him to understand how it was that she had escaped the perils of her
unprotected girlhood. Certainly it would have taken a good deal of
courage, impudence or alcoholic excitement to make a man address to this
statuesque and cold-faced creature a flippant word.

She did not see Max, who kept so quiet that it was easy for her to
overlook the presence of a third person in the room. He watched her
intently, taking even more interest in her under these new conditions
than he had done before. Would she retain her cold look and manner when
he made his presence known to her, as he intended presently to do? The
question was full of interest to him.

Presently Dudley stopped short in his walk, right in front of Carrie,
who seemed, however, unconscious of or indifferent to the fact.

"Who are you?" he asked, abruptly.

Carrie looked up and surveyed him as if from a great distance.

"I don't know," she answered, rather quaintly, but evidently unconscious
of the oddity of her own answer. There was a moment's pause, and then
she asked, briskly: